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Wearing his new purple No. 94 jersey for the first time on Monday for the Ravens’ team picture, rookie Sergio Kindle reiterated his burning desire to play football.

And even though that won’t happen this year, Kindle (who temporarily wore No. 49 this offseason) is doing everything he can to be ready when his number is called.

For the 43rd-overall draft pick, that includes running, lifting weights and attending meetings. Kindle wants to not only stay in shape, but get acclimated to the way NFL teams game-plan for an upcoming opponent.

“I finally got my jersey,” said a beaming Kindle after the entire team mugged for the camera. “Now, I just need to keep working to get back out there with those guys. I’m doing things besides practicing, whatever they’ll let me do. Just more and more as time goes on.”

Kindle was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list because of a serious head injury when he fell down two flights of stairs on July 22 – mere days before training camp began.

He rejoined his Ravens teammates in mid-September after undergoing a neurological examination at Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital.

The moment he stepped back into the locker room couldn’t have come sooner.

“That was my whole thing, since I wasn’t going to be able to play, I wanted to be around the fellas,” Kindle said. “I wanted to be around the team atmosphere. It’s been good. The guys took me in once again with open arms.”

According to Head Coach John Harbaugh, Kindle is adhering to the schedule the Ravens and doctors have laid out for him.

“I think it’s a Tuesday and a Friday when he goes to the hospital and he works the [physical therapy] stuff there very actively,” said Harbaugh. “Then, we have a whole protocol here that he works on. Plus, he does cardiovascular conditioning, obviously, and the weightlifting. He’s in all the meetings unless he’s at the hospital.